Sheen launches blackmail action

Troubled actor Charlie Sheen has launched a blackmail action against a woman who accused him of abuse in a nationally-televised interview.

Sheen, 45, is suing adult film actress Capri Anderson, who was found locked in the bathroom of his Manhattan hotel suite last month. He filed a lawsuit hours after Anderson went on ABC’s Good Morning America and accused him of using racial slurs and grabbing her by the throat.

Sheen’s lawsuit claims Anderson threatened to make false allegations about the star unless he paid her one million dollars (£630,000).

The suit says Anderson’s allegations are false and calls them a “sensational tale”.

Sheen’s filing pre-empts a lawsuit Anderson said she would file against Sheen for battery and false imprisonment.

The 45-year-old actor had a brief stay in hospital after security at the Plaza Hotel reported he was disorderly and broke furniture in his room.

The troubled star voluntarily went with authorities for a psychiatric evaluation and was released from the hospital the same day. His publicist Stan Rosenfield said at the time that Sheen had an adverse reaction to medication.

In a statement, Sheen’s lawyer Yale Galanter denied Anderson’s claims and said she “never made any allegation to the police of any wrongful conduct on the part of Mr Sheen the night of the incident and she had every opportunity to do so”.

The allegations are a “blatant attempt to cash in on his celebrity”, Mr Galanter said.